Hasta La Ideas

As we’re now well past the midpoint of the year already, we continue to inch ever closer to 2012. And because there’s an Olympics going on that year, it’s time to figure out what the torch is going to look like. The absurdly long-titled London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, working with the UK’s Design Council, have just launched a call for a design for the official torch to be carried before the games. Entries will be accepted from Monday the 9th to Sunday the 22nd of this month, and like with all design/engineering-related calls for the 2012 games, the organizations require entries to be filtered through CompeteFor, a site put together for sorting through bids and submissions. The hunt will involve looking for industrial designers who will be able to not just design a handsome torch, but one that can also keep the flame lit in all types of weather and be functional with runners, bicyclists, and people in wheelchairs (more details are available on the Design Council’s site). They’d also like some cauldrons to put the fire in and some packaging to keep the torches in before and after the games. A fairly tall order, but they’re looking to assemble a whole team, not just one company, so individuals can apply as well (and as far as we’ve been able to tell, the call isn’t exclusive to UK residents). If you’ve been working on torch designs in your garage over the summer, here’s your chance to finally put them to the test (you didn’t really want to just waste all that effort to give Frankenstein a scare, now did you?)

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